Growth mechanism of Ni0.3Mn0.7CO3 precursor for high capacity Li-ion battery cathodes

Co-precipitation is a promising method for the synthesis of precursors for lithium ion battery cathodes because it leads to homogeneous composition, narrow particle size distribution, and high packing density materials. Carbonate co-precipitation, as a process to produce transition metal (Mn, Ni, Co) precursors,[1-3] has many advantages compared to hydroxide process: First, in the carbonate matrix, the oxidation state of the cations is kept as 2 for all transition metals. Second, the experimental conditions under which carbonates are usually made are less harsh than those of the hydroxide process. Last but not least, carbonate is a tunable process for better morphology control. In this study, the nucleation and growth process o